After quite some time of low-key promotion with images being released here and there, the mobile game Transformers: Legends, for Android and iOS, have been released in some countries.

I downloaded it yesterday. It's a glorified card collecting game, but since it's a Transformer-themed card game there are twists to it.

First you choose your faction, although this point is moot since you can simply do both factions' quests... it's mostly to determine which 'captain' you'll get... a rare card that's pretty powerful. The choices are Ratchet, Mirage and someone I forgot for the Autobots, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Ravage for the Decepticons.

I picked Skywarp, and was then given eight additional 'common' Decepticon cards. A bunch of Constructicons, a bunch of Insecticons and a bunch of cassettes.

So, your goal is basically to make your 'Battle Deck', a group of nine cards, very powerful. The cards we're given initially, save Skywarp, are all shit.

Cards are divided into three tiers. Tier 1 are very common and weak guys, Tier 2 are more powerful guys like Inferno, Razorclaw, Acid Storm, Scourge (and, inexplicably, Rewind), Tier 3 are the 'captains' earlier, plus guys like Shockwave. Pretty sure there's a Tier 4, but it's super-rare. There exists robot and alternate mode versions of each character, and if you find them both and 'Trans-Scan' them, both cards are combined into a single, powerful card. Your Captain starts off as a 'Trans-Scan' card, which is actually quite nice since it's pretty hard to find either alternate or robot modes, even for common cards. You can have multiples of the same character, which is annoying because right now I have two dozen vehicle mode 'Grappels' in my inventory... yep, they use Grappel, Trailcutter, Sharpshot, Silverstreak, Autobot Rewind...

There are 92 characters total, I think, ranging from the cartoon guys to guys like Acid Storm, Overkill, Slugfest, Chromia and the Deluxe Insecticons. Artwork's pretty good, and while most of them are basically prettied-up G1 designs, some, like Inferno or Scourge, follow their Universe toys. However, you can only have 50 cards at any time, although any card you have previously owned can be seen in a 'Cyberdex'.

There are two things to do: Missions and Battle. Battle is basically PvP, but it's not too exciting... the cards are lined up and they start beating each other up. No strategy whatsoever, all you have to do is to bulk up your deck. Battle consumes 'Battle Cubes', which regenerate over time like all self-respecting mobile game.

Missions consume Energy, again self-regenerating. There are two kinds of missions, Autobot or Decepticon. The Autobot missions obviously drop Autobot cards, and it's the same for Decepticons. It's the main way you're going to get cards. Each Level, so to speak, is made out of several missions, but it's basically mashing a 'Scan' button. Scanning gives you one out of three or four cards that's predetermined for the mission. The most common event is the Scan button, or Swoop/Ramjet coming in and firing missiles at you which you must tap. It gets very annoying, but you can ignore them without any losses... well, other than the credits you'll otherwise get by tapping them. Two other things (there may be more) also happen rarely. One is a random boss fight against a Tier 3 card of the opposing faction. You come with three cards (which you select previously) and beat the other chap up. The other is 'Combat Cache', where a Tier 3 card is hidden between five cards and you rely on luck to get it. At the end of the level, you have a boss fight against another high-tier character, and if you win you get a weapon.

You level up as you do missions and battles, which replenish your energy and battle cubes, and allow you access to more friends.

In your 'base' you can decide on the teams for battle (nine cards) or for missions (three cards). There may be rules regarding order or whatever, but since I'm too lazy to find out I press the 'optimal order' button, and voila. Each card can hold a weapon, and you can choose it from here. The game gives you a bunch of common weapons, but defeating bosses will give you better ones. You can also 'Trans-Scan' to combine robot and alternate cards of the same character, although this costs Credits.

You can also Upgrade your cards. Each card has its own level, and you have to Upgrade them... by feeding them cards. Yes. So I feed my Skywarp some of those Grappels and his level zoomed up. The cards you feed are consumed, though, so be warned. Higher tier characters can reach a higher level cap.

Also, there's the Space Bridge, which is akin to Booster packs in an actual trading card game. I think you can press them daily, but there are a couple other currencies you can use. Gold (which is, of course, real money) which guarantees at least one rare card and maybe a 'super-rare'. The image shows me Grimlock and Trypticon. There's also 'AP', which you get from friends, and 'BP' which you get from winning Battles in-game. All of these give pretty sweet and random rewards -- I got my Tier 3 Shockwave and Tier 2 Razorclaw and Acid Storm from Space Bridging. There is also 'Bronze Character Medals' and 'Bronze Weapon Medals' which you get by completing achievements like reach level 10, or beat 10 enemies. You Space-Bridge a card or a weapon over, depending on the medal you have.

To me the appeal is collecting the pretty cards. Neither the battle or mission systems are amazing, and if it wasn't for the fact that it's Transformers it'll be very damn boring. Worth a try if it's available.

I downloaded this yesterday, and it worked fine until they started to work on their servers. It's been pretty sketchy since then - it struggles to stay connected.

That being said, I enjoy it. It's super simple, and like Blackjack said, it mainly consists of being the lucky enough one in a PvP to have stumbled across nicer cards or being the one that pays real money for 3s and 4s. There doesn't seem to be any strategy, and I'm pretty sure that "recommend" button automatically assigns the best bots with the best weapons to your frontline team.

I'm struggling with the idea of feeding all the 1s into your 4s, 3s, and then 2s respectively. I'll run across 1s that I like character-wise, and want to keep them hahaha I'm too much of a completionist.

It also seems to me like you can carry 200 character cards and 100 weapon cards, according to the numbers on my "Base" page.

Not entirely. Sometimes the reccomend button assigns character specific weapons to the wrong character. If you change them to the right character, your overall will be higher.

Hmm. When you say "right character," do you mean Jazz's weapon to Jazz, or this special melee weapon to a melee specialist? I actually don't have a character/signature weapon set yet, but I have noticed a couple times you can wind up with (for example) a melee specialist performing better with a gun.

"A mighty Autobot convoy has been dispatched to bring much needed supplies through the Space Bridge. Sensing an opportunity to disrupt the Autobot's plans, the Decepticons have sent Cyclonus and Scourge to strike the Autobots when they are most vulnerable. But the Autobots, knowing how important the delivery is, have sent their best space warriors, including the mighty Omega Supreme. Team up with the Decepticons, and let the battle for space begin! "

Rewards

Omega Supreme Robot mode & Alt mode cards

Jetfire Robot mode & Alt mode cards

Sky Lynx Robot mode & Alt mode cards

Cosmos' Robot mode & Alt mode cards

Additionally, you can also win a Cyclonus Robot mode, Alt mode card and weapon card at respectively 10000, 20000 and 40000 points.

Notes
New in this episodes is the ability to equip a shield instead of a weapon.